Authors of books on "faith-promoting history" are criticized as generally avoiding more controversial topics in an effort to promote faith among members.
On the opposite end of the spectrum are anti-Mormon historians, which Oaks mentioned in the above quote.
[citation needed] Though such historians would not be considered Latter Day Saints, they could be considered Latter Day Saint historians as the LDS Church is the topic of their research.
Many anti-Mormons are, in fact, non-practicing ex-Mormons and therefore may still consider themselves cultural Mormons.
Other historians reject both faith-promoting history and anti-Mormon history, and seek to give a more objective analysis, basing their conclusions on actual evidence, rather than revealing selective evidence to reach their desired conclusions.